No ... no rant here. It's just disappointing. The evidence is there in the form of letters, articles and memos. The people who engineered the evolution of our government school system in the early 1900s were clear ... the goal of "public education" was only to educate our children to the point that they would be good employees and government subjects. Nothing more. The evidence of the failure of our government schools is everywhere .. yet today, without a second thought, millions of people who call themselves "parents" will turn their children over to the government for nothing more than a mediocre education. They will be spit out at the end of the school year barely able to make change or read a simple lease agreement.

Here's a wonderful quote of H.L. Mencken that fits in real nicely:

"That erroneous assumption is to the effort that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else."

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2009 National Education Association Convention in San Diego, California

At the National Convention in San Diego, the National Education Association's retiring General Counsel Bob Chanin has exposed the evil spirit of the NEA with these words: "We are not paranoid, someone really is after us. Why are these conservative and right-wing b****rds picking on NEA and its affiliates? I will tell you why: it is the price we pay for success."

Mr. Chanin was referring to people like us who refuse to place our children in the government-run schools. He called me and many of you b****rds.

To what does left-winger Chanin attribute the effectiveness of this wicked outfit called the National Education Association? The NEA, according to Chanin is effective, "not because of our creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our positions, it is not because we care about children, and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. . . . And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year." Do you realize that dues-payers to the NEA include professing Christian school teachers-teachers that Mr. Chanin hates?

The National Education Association's handbook dealing with the "radical right's crusade against public schools" states, "They (people with traditional Christian values) won't go away. No matter how bizarre we believe their beliefs to be, no matter how illogical and inconsistent their goals appear, and no matter how often we reassure ourselves that 'this too, shall pass,' the political, social, and religious forces that make up the radical right in contemporary American society will not go away."

At this same convention in San Diego, the NEA voted to throw their full support behind homosexual "marriage" with its power purchased with members' dues money.

The National Education Association has made a glowing assessment of radical socialist community organizer Saul Alinsky and is enthusiastically recommending American public school teachers read two of his books, including one dedicated to Satan.

On its website, the NEA dubs Alinsky "an inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer!"

It recommends Alinsky's "Reveille for Radicals," a 1946 book about the principles and tactics of "community organizing," and "Rules for Radicals," a 1971 text that articulated a socialist strategy for gaining political power to redistribute wealth from the "haves" to the "have-nots."

The NEA, the largest labor union in the United States, represents public school teachers, college and university faculty, retired education employees and college students preparing to become teachers.

The association describes Alinsky as a "master political agitator, tactical planner and social organizer" who wrote a "guidebook for those who are out to change things."

"He sets down what the goal is: a society where people are free to live, and also aren't starving in the streets. A society where there is legal and economic justice," the NEA explains to educators. "Then he sets out to say how to get there."

The NEA continues, "Alinsky's goal seems to be to encourage positive social change by equipping activists with a realistic view of the world, a kind of preemptive disillusionment. If a person already knows what evil the world is capable of, then perhaps the surprise factor can be eliminated, making the person a more effective activist. Alinsky further seems to be encouraging the budding activist not to worry to [sic] much about getting his or her hands dirty. It's all a part of the job, he seems to say."